There exists a need, and a substantial market for a durable, simple to assemble, maintain and repair floating dock system. Floating dock systems are key practical alternatives to permanent docks in geographical areas that encounter ice in the wintertime, especially if the ice breaks up and moves in the spring. Moving ice can destroy a dock that is immovably secured to a lake or river bottom.
There have been many forms of floating dock proposed. In a simple form, a floating dock can be built using drums or pontoons fastened together with a dock laid on top. Of course, this sort of custom built dock will only be as good as the person building it is capable of making it. Often, this type of dock is awkward and dangerous to use.
An example of a prefabricated dock that has been marketed is shown in CA2308617 (Gruhn et al). This dock consists of a number of hollow-bottom floats with textured upper surfaces. The floats can be fastened together using custom fabricated fastening elements that fit into custom shaped profiled slots on the sides of the floats. The slots are profiled to provide a fit with the fasteners. While this dock assembly system has some attractive features, there are drawbacks associated with it, particularly the profiled connectors that are used to connect floats together.
These connectors are effective in securing together adjacent floats, but tend to permit more flex than is desirable between adjacent floats. Moreover, the pre-textured upper surface of the floats will dictate that they should all be assembled in a parallel arrangement, which may limit available assembly options.